On the road less traveled...

The project that was...

Once upon a time I started a project that I called Project 365.  Yes, and then suddenly, it was the end!  Yikes.  Here’s what it looked like when I started...

I was doing good keeping a decent mix of journaling and pictures.  Doing something to document each day.

There were a couple of spots I was going to pull blog journaling later...but I was keeping up.

I was excited when I made it to month #2, and so I had kind of a fresh rush with the project.

And then by mid-February I was playing some catch up again...

 

And it wasn't long after that that the wheels totally came off.  I started putting a sticky on each day so that I would remember what I wanted to do for that....but then it was just stickys...and then I just skipped a whole bunch all together...stuck in a random one for my birthday (bottom right corner) and the rest of the binder is blank.  Blast.

It’s actually really cool to go back and look at my entries for the days that I did.  I wih I had been better about keeping up on it. 

Ali Edwards has been doing this project (with the actual kit) this year too.  I've been paying more attention to how she has done it- and it looks like she collects over the course of the week and then works on it at the end of the week.  I'm thinking that maybe that would have worked better?  I was trying to be in my studio every day...but the reality is that it just didn't happen.  And then I was out of the groove. 

Ali also does an annual “Week in the Life” project, and a few weeks back I thought that maybe that would be something more up my alley.  Doing the project for a full year got lost…but for a week?  I managed 2 full months…I could do a week.  So I printed out these great little PDFs that she made to help with the project.  And then I didn’t think about it again.  And then as I was doing my usual blog tour (the blogs I try to hit with real regularity to see what’s new) I discovered that she started the project on Monday.  And it’s now ... it's Sunday and her week in the life documentation is over.  Urgh.  The beauty of it, of course, is that it can be started at any time.  I just have to find the motivation for it.  And I need to be ready for it so that I don't just let it peter out again.

So now the question is what do I do with the 3 months of my P365 that I started?  I may just have to incorporate the pieces into 12x12 scrapbook pages.  Then I can at least stick them into my albums....(which I am sooooo far behind in too!)  That or a mini album...but the format I had just doesn't make as much sense now that it's not full.  I suppose that I could also leave it in the dividers and put the 8.5x11 pages into a bigger scrapbook too...we shall see.

D keeps telling me I need to cut projects, not add them.  He says I have too many irons in the fire, I'm not quite able to do anything completely.  *sigh*  I refuse to believe that.  (Although I know he's right.  shhh.....don't tell).   But I can't stop trying new things.  Hello.  My name is Sarah and I'm a craft addict.

And stay tuned...because I found something else I want to do!  ;)  of course.

Time Flies.

The last few months have been a bit of a blur.  Lots of life happenings.  Lots of changes and redirections.  Some good, some hard, some easy, some sad, some reason to celebrate, some reason to cry...some just a part of life.  Here's a glimpse at the last few months....

Creative Boutique Holiday Sale

Come visit the Creative Boutique Holiday Sale this weekend!!

[CB 2008 - TONS of fun finds!]

525 Sterling in Eugene.  It's off River Road to Silver to Sterling.  Hope to see you there!

Happy December

Each year, somewhere around the first part of November I start to think, I should really get signed up for Holiday craft fairs.  I always wish that I started a little earlier to get enough of an inventory together.  But, as with most years, I plow forward anyway!  Even when my search for placed to sell starts late.  And now that I've decided to start my etsy shop, Saturday Afternoon, I really wanted to get my name out there.  The first few I found still had spots open....and then as it turns out it was something like $500/booth.  yeah, I don't think so. 

So I've been busily crafting away.  Scrabble tile pendants, fun magnets, fun perpetual advent calendars, cards, gift cards, word stones....all sorts of things.  There are a few things that are already up on etsy- mostly the scrabble tiles and the advent calendar...and when things slow down just a little, more will get posted.

 

[Advent Calendar - available in my Etsy shop]

For months now, I've wanted to check out one of the craft shows at Meet Your Maker, a Eugene-based group of crafty people.  For awhile they did a show the first Friday of each month at a local deli/wine bar.  But something came up each time and I never did make it.  But I kept checking the website- and sure enoughthey were having a couple of holiday shows- and there was still space in November (and I got on the waitlist for December).   I wish I had a fun photo to share from it- but as luck would have it...as much time as me and my little helper spent getting me all set up and ready for the day...I did not remember to charge my camera battery...or my iphone battery.  Oh well.  It was a good day. Not a ton of sales, but a good start to getting myetsy shop out there.

So then I found two more.  I am lucky in that I met some very fun girls just after I moved to Eugene in 2007, and they've started a Creative Boutique to do a craft/vintage find fair a few times a year...including one around the holidays.   Jill and Emily have also asked me to teach a class this year at this month's Come Play (Eugene) on December 5 in Eugene.  See that website for more details on the class and signing up!

And then I was perusing Emily's blog, and found out she has another sale...Cuppa Joy Holiday Sale on December 4 at a Coffee Shop in Eugene- Perk and Play.  And so I am headed to yet another.

I was in a creative funk for a little while- but lately, I have been finding inspiration and creative ideas in just about everything!  It's a double-edged sword.  On the one hand, I am thrilled that I am feeling so creative.  The only downside is that I am so excited about so many different things right now that I keep moving from project to project.  In a perfect world, I'd have time to work on all of the projects!  But I think that would require me to quit my day job ;)

Here are the beginnings of a brewing project....we'll see what comes of it in the following days!

[December 2, 2009.  What might this turn out to be??..stay tuned...]

Baby Crafts

I haven't posted anything crafty in a while...primarily because I haven't had time to DO anything crafty.  And when I do have time, it seems like it tends to be pretty project oriented.  And lately, it seems like a lot of that is baby crafty.

Maybe it's strange...but I love working on baby stuff.  I get all gooey when I walk by the baby clothes section in department stores.  I think the kid/ baby themed craft stuff is fun.  Hear me loud and clear, I don't actually WANT a baby right now...but I love looking at baby stuff.  So lucky for me, friends are having babies..which gives me just the excuse I need!

This is a mini book I made for a friend and co-worker, Lori...who just had her baby Owen a few weeks ago now!

 

I stiched the front of the album with the sewing machine.  I added the acrylic heart, and did a random criss-cross stich to attach it.

There's a little intro page for a newborn photo, and then there are 12 pages with the month number stamped, the idea being that each month there's a picture of the baby placed into the book. 

There is also a little journal block for room to write things for each month.

 

[Supplies: Paper: My Mind's Eye; Stamps: Stampin' Up, G Stamps, unknown; Felt flower: Stampin' Up; Letters: Scenic Route; Acrylic Heart: Heidi Swapp; Zutter Binding System]

Another Quick Mini

I wanted to put together a few more pictures for my grandma, and so I threw together a quick 4x6 mini album.  Covered chipboard for the covers, did a little decorating, and then started printing out some 4x6 photos.  She likes to have pictures near her, and will regularly pick up photos that are there and go through them.  So that's my hope for this little album.

 

 

I put a couple of dividers in the mini, one for my house...

 

["Mein Haus" is My Home]

 

[If I wanted an introduction to a series of photos, or needed rom for explanation, I cropped the photo a little and mounted it on the yellow.  But I also just punched photos and put them in.]

  

[Brookyln Bridge during my NY trip this last March.  Oh yeah, I need to post the rest of those photos!!]

 

[Left photo is my mom and I before we went to Phantom of the Opera for her 60th birthday last August; Right photo is my brother and I at Thanksgiving last year]

My plan is that I can send her photos (that will have the book-ring hole punched in it) on a more regular basis and she can just keep adding them to this.  Loved this format to put something quick together.  More family members are going to get books like this!

Quick scrapbooking, take 2

Back in, oh, February (?!) I finished a scrapbook of all the Christmas pictures from Germany this last year.  I was so proud of myself that I'd be able to quickly send that out to my grandma...within just weeks of having been there.  Yeah...too bad that the scrapbook sat on my coffee table since then.  This last week I have FINALLY gotten around to packing up the boxes to send to her and to my uncle.  and I finished a similar scrapbook in teh 2-up 4x6 album style.

 

[I disassembled the spiral 2-up album to custom cover it with the paper of my choice.]

And here's a few pictures from the inside.  A quick way to wrap up LOTS of pictures!!

 

[The standard theme was the certainly celery paper and this particular stamp.  Super easy, super fast.]

 

Two days of blogging in a row.  Can I get in another tomorrow?? :)

Crafty Summer Day

I have lots to catch up on.  LOTS going on and some fun pictures to share...but today, this comes first:

 

Yeah for spending some time with some crafty girls!

Canvas Lettering

Here's a quick how-to on the lettering that I did on the canvases.  Once I figured out what type of handwritten font I wanted, and the size I wanted, it was actually very easy.

   

[I made a template for two font sizes (three rows of each size) out of a piece of light-weight cardboard.  The big rows are 3/4" and the little ones are a 1/2".  The spacer in between both sizes is 1/4". ]

 

[Then I wrote my quote onto a piece of transparency paper using the template.]

 

[I cut the lines apart so that I could move around my words the way I wanted them arranged on the canvas.]

 

 

[After I know where I want my words, I use the template to write them directly onto the canvas.  The only pencils I can stand to use are mechanical pencils...so that's what I used here.]

 

[And because I like the mechanical pencils so much, I use that instead of a brush too.  I mixed my paint and put it on my mini palette (it's an empty starbuck's card) and dip the pencil in it.  For all of my regular sized letters, I pushed the lead all the way down and just used the tip of the pencil casing.  On the other ones where I had an author name, I let the lead out used it to write more detailed letters.]

 

 

[Another finished canvas!]

Now I just have to figure out what to do with this one....I'm pretty much set in the office! 

Inspiration

I finished them.  Originally there was going to be one more 12x12, but I painted and re-painted it so many times that I decided it wasn't supposed to be right now. 

The quotes that I selected, all have some important message that I want to live my life by. 

Here are the individual canvases:

 

 

 

 

 

[One of my absolulety favorite quotes.  It's been on a note at my computer for as long as I can remember.]

And here's what it looks like on the office wall:

   

One of the attorneys on my team was also in the office today, and he came into my office and said that the colors are far to cheery and bright for my office.  Apparently I give off a dark vibe? ;)

Bottom line, I'm happy with how they turned out...and it does add a personal and creative touch to my office....thanks for looking!